Seventeen militants were killed, 107 others arrested and several arms and underground materials recovered by BSF in the past one year in Manipur, BSF DIG (Manipur and Nagaland) P. K. Misra said. 10 militants belonging to different outfits had also surrendered to the para-military forces, which had been deployed to assist the counter-insurgency operations in the sensitive State.

The militants killed or nabbed belonged to different underground groups, Misra said adding 58 arms including AK 47 rifles, light machine guns, pistols and 2693 rounds of ammunition, 72 magazines, 23 IEDs, 10 grenades and 16 wireless sets had been recovered during the period.

The BSF is deployed mainly in Churachandpur and Thoubal districts. It has been able to restore a semblance of order and been restored in the two places. Before the deployment of BSF, the militants operated freely in Henglep, Thanlon, Parbung and Singhat sub-divisions of Churachandpur and they used to force government offices to be closed at will. Heavily-armed militants used to patrol the interior and isolated hilly tracts; And they used to hijack vehicles, kidnap people, forcibly collect ‘taxes’ and organise killings.